Measuring the entanglement complexity of collections of open curves in 3-space has been an intractable, yet pressing mathematical problem, relevant to a plethora of physical systems, such as in polymers and biopolymers. In this manuscript, we give a novel definition of the Jones polynomial that generalizes the classic Jones polynomial to collections of open curves in 3-space. More precisely, first we provide a novel definition of the Jones polynomial of linkoids (open link diagrams) and show that this is a well-defined single variable polynomial that is a topological invariant, which, for link-type linkoids, it coincides with that of the corresponding link. Using the framework introduced in Panagiotou and Kauffman 2020 arXiv:2001.01303, this enables us to define the Jones polynomial of collections of open and closed curves in 3-space. For collections of open curves in 3-space, the Jones polynomial has real coefficients and it is a continuous function of the curve coordinates. As the endpoints of the curves tend to coincide, the Jones polynomial tends to that of the resultant link. We demonstrate with numerical examples that the novel Jones polynomial enables us to characterize the topological and geometrical complexity of collections of open curves in 3-space for the first time.
We introduce a Kauffman-Jones type polynomial $\mathcal{L}_γ(A)$ for a curve $γ$ on an oriented surface, whose endpoints are on the boundary of the surface. The polynomial $\mathcal{L}_γ(A)$ is a Laurent polynomial in one variable $A$ and is an invariant of the homotopy class of $γ$. As an application, we obtain an estimate in terms of the span of $\mathcal{L}_γ(A)$ for the minimum self-intersection number of a curve within its homotopy class. We then give a chord diagrammatic description of $\mathcal{L}_γ(A)$ and show some computational results on the span of $\mathcal{L}_γ(A)$.
We introduce and study a new class of homotopy spheres called Farrell-Jones spheres. Using Farrell-Jones sphere we construct examples of closed negatively curved manifolds $M^{2n}$, where $n=7$ or $8$, which are homeomorphic but not diffeomorphic to complex hyperbolic manifolds, thereby giving a partial answer to a question raised by C.S. Aravinda and F.T. Farrell. We show that every exotic sphere not bounding a spin manifold (Hitchin sphere) is a Farrell-Jones sphere. We also discuss the relationship between inertia groups of $\mathbb{C}\mathbb{P}^n$ and Farrell-Jones spheres.
In this manuscript we introduce a method to measure entanglement of curves in 3-space that extends the notion of knot and link polynomials to open curves. We define the bracket polynomial of curves in 3-space and show that it has real coefficients and is a continuous function of the chain coordinates. This is used to define the Jones polynomial in a way that it is applicable to both open and closed curves in 3-space. For open curves, it has real coefficients and it is a continuous function of the chain coordinates and as the endpoints of the curve tend to coincide, the Jones polynomial of the …
Intersection norms are integer norms on the first homology group of a surface. In this article, we prove that there are some polytopes which are not dual unit balls of such norms. By the way, we investigate the set of collections of curves on $Σ$2 whose complement is a disk.
Let $Ω=(ω_{j})_{j\in I}$ be a collection of pairwise non-isotopic simple closed curves on the closed, orientable, genus $g$ surface $S_{g}$, such that $ω_{i}$ and $ω_{j}$ intersect exactly once for $i\neq j$. It was recently demonstrated by Malestein, Rivin, and Theran that the cardinality of such a collection is no more than $2g+1$. In this paper, we show that for $g\geq 3$, there exists at least two such collections with this maximum size up to the action of the mapping class group, answering a question posed by Malestein, Rivin and Theran.
As Oleg Viro describes in his paper, the most fundamental property of the Khovanov homology group is their invariance under Reidemeister moves. Viro constructes Khovanov complex and homology consisting of Jordan curves with sign and also gives a proof for the only case of first Reidemeister move by using his definition of Khovanov homology groups. In this paper, homotopy maps are obtained explicitly for the other Reidemeister moves, i.e. second and third.
Using elementary ideas from Tropical Geometry, we assign a a tropical curve to every $q$-holonomic sequence of rational functions. In particular, we assign a tropical curve to every knot which is determined by the Jones polynomial of the knot and its parallels. The topical curve explains the relation between the AJ Conjecture and the Slope Conjecture (which relate the Jones polynomial of a knot and its parallels to the $\SL(2,\BC)$ character variety and to slopes of incompressible surfaces). Our discussion predicts that the tropical curve is dual to a Newton subdivision of the $A$-polynomial o…
If the twist numbers of a collection of oriented alternating link diagrams are bounded, then the Alexander polynomials of the corresponding links have bounded euclidean Mahler measure (see Definition 1.2). The converse assertion does not hold. Similarly, if a collection of oriented link diagrams, not necessarily alternating, have bounded twist numbers, then both the Jones polynomials and a parametrization of the 2-variable Homflypt polynomials of the corresponding links have bounded Mahler measure.
Let D be a link diagram with n crossings, s_A and s_B its extreme states and |s_AD| (resp. |s_BD|) the number of simple closed curves that appear when smoothing D according to s_A (resp. s_B). We give a general formula for the sum |s_AD|+|s_BD| for a k-almost alternating diagram D, for any k, characterising this sum as the number of faces in an appropriate triangulation of an appropriate surface with boundary. When D is dealternator connected, the triangulation is especially simple, yielding |s_AD|+|s_BD|=n+2-2k. This gives a simple geometric proof of the upper bound of the span of the Jones p…
The discovery of polynomial invariants of knots and links, ignited by V. F. R. Jones, leads to the formulation of polynomial invariants of spatial graphs. The Yamada polynomial, one of such invariants, is frequently utilized for practical distinguishment of spatial graphs. Especially for $θ$-curves, the polynomial is an ambient isotopy invariant after a normalization. On the other hand, to each $θ$-curve, a 3-component link can be associated as an ambient isotopy invariant. The benefit of associated links is that invariants of links can be utilized as invariants of $θ$-curves. In this paper we…
In this manuscript we define Vassiliev measures of complexity for open curves in 3-space. These are related to the coefficients of the enhanced Jones polynomial of open curves in 3-space. These Vassiliev measures are continuous functions of the curve coordinates and as the ends of the curve tend to coincide, they converge to the corresponding Vassiliev invariants of the resulting knot. We focus on the second Vassiliev measure from the enhanced Jones polynomial for closed and open curves in 3-space. For closed curves, this second Vassiliev measure can be computed by a Gauss code diagram and it …
A second part of detailed elementary introduction into Khovanov homologies. This part is devoted to reduced Jones superpolynomials. The story is still about a hypercube of resolutions of a link diagram. Each resolution is a collection of non-intersecting cycles, and one associates a 2-dimensional vector space with each cycle. Reduced superpolynomial arises when for all cycles, containing a "marked" edge of the link diagram, the vector space is reduced to 1-dimensional. The rest remains the same. Edges of the hypercube are associated with cut-and-join operators, acting on the cycles. Superpartn…
Let $S_g$ denote the closed orientable surface of genus $g$. We construct exponentially many mapping class group orbits of collections of $2g+1$ simple closed curves on $S_g$ which pairwise intersect exactly once, extending a result of the first author and further answering a question of Malestein-Rivin-Theran. To distinguish such collections up to the action of the mapping class group, we analyze their dual cube complexes in the sense of Sageev. In particular, we show that for any even $k$ between $\lfloor g/2 \rfloor$ and $g$, there exists such collections whose dual cube complexes have dime…
Let $S$ be a surface of negative Euler characteristic and consider a finite filling collection $Γ$ of closed curves on $S$ in minimal position. An observation of Foulon and Hasselblatt shows that $PT(S) \setminus \hatΓ$ is a finite-volume hyperbolic 3-manifold, where $PT(S)$ is the projectivized tangent bundle and $\hatΓ$ is the set of tangent lines to $Γ$. In particular, $vol(PT(S) \setminus \hatΓ)$ is a mapping class group invariant of the collection $Γ$. When $Γ$ is a filling pair of simple closed curves, we show that this volume is coarsely comparable to Weil-Petersson distance between str…
We study collections of curves in generic position on a closed surface whose complement consists of one disk only, up to orientation-preserving homeomorphism of the surface. We define a surgery operation on the set of such collections and prove that any two of them can be connected by a sequence of such surgeries.
In the presence of certain topological conditions, we provide lower bounds for the infimum of the length function associated to a collection of curves on Teichmüller space that depend on the dual cube complex associated to the collection, a concept due to Sageev. As an application of our bounds, we obtain estimates for the `longest' curve with $k$ self-intersections, complementing work of Basmajian \cite{basmajian}.
We prove that for any infinite-type orientable surface S there exists a collection of essential curves Γ in S such that any homeomorphism that preserves the isotopy classes of the elements of Γ is isotopic to the identity. The collection Γ is countable and has infinite complement in C(S), the curve complex of S. As a consequence we obtain that the natural action of the extended mapping class group of S on C(S) is faithful.
The A-polynomial of a knot in S^3 defines a complex plane curve associated to the set of representations of the fundamental group of the knot exterior into SL(2,C). Here, we show that a non-trivial knot in S^3 has a non-trivial A-polynomial. We deduce this from the gauge-theoretic work of Kronheimer and Mrowka on SU_2-representations of Dehn surgeries on knots in S^3. As a corollary, we show that if a conjecture connecting the colored Jones polynomials to the A-polynomial holds, then the colored Jones polynomials distinguish the unknot
The generalized volume conjecture relates asymptotic behavior of the colored Jones polynomials to objects naturally defined on an algebraic curve, the zero locus of the A-polynomial $A(x,y)$. Another "family version" of the volume conjecture depends on a quantization parameter, usually denoted $q$ or $\hbar$; this quantum volume conjecture (also known as the AJ-conjecture) can be stated in a form of a q-difference equation that annihilates the colored Jones polynomials and $SL(2,\C)$ Chern-Simons partition functions. We propose refinements / categorifications of both conjectures that include a…
In his work on the Farrell-Jones Conjecture, Arthur Bartels introduced the concept of a "finitely $\mathcal{F}$-amenable" group action, where $\mathcal{F}$ is a family of subgroups. We show how a finitely $\mathcal{F}$-amenable action of a countable group $G$ on a compact metric space, where the asymptotic dimensions of the elements of $\mathcal{F}$ are bounded from above, gives an upper bound for the asymptotic dimension of $G$ viewed as a metric space with a proper left invariant metric. We generalize this to families $\mathcal{F}$ whose elements are contained in a collection, $\mathfrak{C}$…
